The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-01-20

borns what are you doing herea "Oh,'
| says Conscience, II was born in Heaven
I came down to befriend this man. have
lived with him; have instructed him
have warned him. showed him the right
| and the wrong, advising him to take the
one and eschew the other. 1 have kindle6
a great light in his soul. With whip OF
scorpions l have scourged his wicked
| ness, and I have tried to cheer him
when doing right; and yet l am
compelled to testify on the stand
to-day that he has sometimes rejected
my mission. Oh, how many cups of life
have pressed to his lips that he dashed
down, and how often has he stood with his
hard heel on the bleeding heart of the Son
OF God! 1t pains me very much that / have
to testify against this Christian man, and
yet must in behalf of Him who will in nc
wise clear the guilty, say that this Chris
tan man has done wrong; he has been
worldly; he has been neglectful; he has
| done thousand things he ought not to
| have done, and left undone a thousand
things he ought to have done" That will
do, Conscience. You can sit down.
The third witness call in the case Is an
| angel of God. Bright and shining one,
| what doest thou here. what hast thou to say
| angel, 81 have been messenger to him
| have guarded him; have watched him;
with this wing I have defended him, and
7 often times when he knew it not led him
| into the green pastures and beside the still
waters. l snatched from him the poisoned
| chalices. When bad spirits came upon him
| to destroy him l fought them back with inf
| mite ferceness; and yet have to testify to-
day that he has rejected my mission. He
has not done as he ought to have done.
Though l came from the sky he drove me
| back; though with this wing defended
| him, and though with this voice wooed
him, l have to announce his multiplied i'm
PROJECTIONS. dare not keep back the tes-
timOny, for then should not dare to appear
again amongst the sinless ones before the
White Thronen
There is only one more witness to be
| called on behalf of the prosecution, and
| that is the great, the holy, the august, the
| omnipotent Spirit of God. We bow down
before Him. Holy Spirit, knowest Thou
this mans "Oh, yes," says the Holy One,
Il know him; have striven with him ten
thousand times, and though sometimes he
| did seem to repent he fell back again as
often from his first estate. Ten thousand
times ten thousand has he grieved Me, al
though the Bible warned him, saying:
| 'Grieve not the Holy Ghost. Quench not
| the spirit Yes, he has driven Me back
Though am the third person of the Trim
| ity he has trampeled on My mission,
and the blood of the atonement that !
| brought with which to cleanse his soul, he
sometimes. despised. l came from the
| throne of God to convert, and comfort, and
sanctify, and yet look at that man, and see
what he is compared with what, unresist-
ed, would have made him.
The evidence on the part of the prosecu-
ton has closed. Now let the defense
bring on the rebuttal testimony What
have you, 0 Christian soul, to bring in re-
ply to this evidence of the World, of the
Conscience, of the Angel and the Holy
Ghosta No evidenced Are all these things
true! Eyes, unclean, unclean,n SAYS every
Christian soul. Whats Do you not begin
to tremble at the thought of condemnation
We have come now to the most interest
ing part of this great trial. The evidence
all in, the advocates speak. The profession
of an advocate is full of responsibility. In
England and the United States there have
arisen men who in this calling have been
honored by their race and thrown con-
tempt upon those who in the profession
Lave been guilty Of great many mean
nesses. That profession will be honored as
long as it has attached to it such names as
Mansfield, and Marshall, and Story, and
Kent, and Southland, and William Writ.
The court room has sometimes been the
scene of very marvellous and thrilling
things. Some of you remember the famous
Girard will case, where one of our advo-
Gates pleaded the cause of the Bible and
PIC 10 ir,
every paragraph a thunderbolt.
Some of you have read of the famous
trial in Westminster Hall of Warren Hast
ings, the despoler of India. That great
man had conquered India by splendid
talents, by courage, by brides, by gigantic
dishonesty. The whole world had wrnng
with applause or condemnation. Gathered
in Westminster Hall was one of the most
famous audiences ever gathered Foreign
Ministers and Princes sat there Peers
marched in, clad in ermine and gold.
Mighty men and women from all lands
looked down upon the scene. Amid all
that pomp and splender, and amid
an excitement such as has seldom
been seen in any courtroom, Edmund
burke advanced, and in speech which will
last as long as the English language, con-
Guided with this burning charge, which
made Warren Hastings cringe and COVER
II impeach him in the name of the Com
mons House of Parliament, whose trust he
has betrayed: impeach him in the name
OF the English Nation, whose ancient honor
he has sullied; l impeach him in the name
of the people Of India, whose rights he has
trampled on and whose country he has
turned into desert; and, lastly, in the
name of human nature, in the name of both
sexes, in the name of every age and rank, 1
mpeach him as the common enemy and
oppressor of alln
But turn from the recital of these mem
orable occasions to grander trial, and
have to tell you that in this trial of the
Christian for the life of his soul the ad-
vocates are mightier, wiser and more elo-
quent. The evidence all being in, Justice
rises on behalf of the prosecution to make
his plea With the Bible open in his hand
ne reads the law, stern and infexible, and
the penalty: 1.-THE soul that sinneth it
shall dep Then he says: 80 Thou
Judge and Lawgiver. this is Thine own
statute, and all the evidence in earth
and Heaven agrees in stating that this man
has sinned against all these enactments
Now, let the sword leap from it's scabbard.
Shall man go through the very flames of
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